The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus configured to be capable of being remotely operated by a terminal device via a wireless communication line, and to a remote operation system for such an image processing apparatus.
Of image processing apparatuses such as image forming devices and image reading devices, an image processing apparatus is configured to be capable of not only being operated by a body operation unit mounted in the image processing apparatus but also being remotely operated by a portable type terminal device such as a smartphone and a tablet terminal device, via a wireless communication line (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open publication No. 2011-103572, for example).
In image processing apparatuses, since operations that cause the image processing apparatuses to execute a specific action required for handling a document, such as copy start and scan start involve work of a user, including placement of a document, such operations are generally performed when the user is close to the image processing apparatus.
In view of the foregoing, an image processing apparatus has been proposed, the image processing apparatus being configured so as to disable a touch operation with respect to the specific operation key of the terminal device to cause the image processing apparatus to execute the above described specific action when the user is far from the image processing apparatus, (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open publication No. 2013-000985, for example). In this image processing apparatus, the user is not required to pay attention so as not to operate the specific operation key when being far from the image processing apparatus, which improves the operability of the terminal device.
However, in the conventional image processing apparatuses described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open publication No. 2011-103572 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open publication No. 2013-000985, the operation keys of the body operation unit of the image processing apparatus have not been switched between enabled and disabled, according to the positional relationship between the image processing apparatus and the terminal device.
Therefore, in a state in which there is a user who is operating the terminal device to cause the image processing apparatus to execute the above described specific action and there is another user who has operated the body operation unit to cause the image processing apparatus to execute the above described specific action, the user who is operating the terminal device gets confused due to a failure to cause the image processing apparatus to execute an action intended by the user, which may cause a risk of reducing the operability of the user who is operating the terminal device.
In the same manner, in a state in which there is a user who is operating the body operation unit to cause the image processing apparatus to execute the above described specific action and there is another user who has operated the terminal device to cause the image processing apparatus to execute the above described specific action, the user who is operating the body operation unit gets confused due to an unexpected behavior of the image processing apparatus, which may cause a risk of reducing the operability of the user who is operating the body operation unit.
An object of the present invention is to provide an image processing apparatus capable of improving operability even when a user who operates a terminal device and a user who operates a body operation unit exist at the same time, and to provide a remote operation system for such an image processing apparatus.